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sword wound in her thigh, and partly by the same augmentation every Sime in
the battle had indulged in to win. The Gen soldiers were all dead or captured
and a
strangehush had fallen. Zeth told Jana, "You came through just fine. You
resisted, Jana."
In response, she flung herself on him, and when it was over, she clung to
Zeth, sobbing, "I wanted to kill. I only murdered a few of them. Sissy
Brandon, though Zeth, she never killed before! Never! And I saw her "
"We'll have to help her, Jana," Zeth began.
"No, no she's dead! I think she let them cut her down after ''
"No, Jana it was war." Even so, their casualties were light. No one close to
Zeth had died, and he chose to take that as an omen of better times.
The evening passed in a blur transfers, post-reactions, and caring for the
wounded. Just before sundown, they carried the last of the wounded into the
fort, where the men's living quarters, on the side opposite the hole in the
wall, were turned into an infirmary. Zeth had no time to think until well
after midnight, when he was making a final check through the barracks before
trying to find a place for himself and particularly Owen to get some rest.
Finally it occurred to him to ask his Companion, "How did you escape? We came
to rescue you, you know."
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Owen had tied the torn ends of his shirt together, but his Gen tags with
Slina's dagger-like emblem flashed in the candlelight. He had repossessed the
tags along with his knife. "I wasn't going to let those fools make me miss my
transfer," he explained. "I just pretended to be helpless. None of those
soldiers were very bright, especially Commander Whitby. He came to question me
this morning. By then I had them convinced I couldn't even button my shirt
without help so when I paced around behind him, pretending I might tell him
something, he never thought I'd pick up the washstand and bash him over the
head. Then I took his keys, and off I went! The so-called guards never even
saw me sneak out the gate. I was halfway up the mountain before they started
sending out search parties."
"They never saw you leave? Youare trying to earn the title 'wer-Gen,' aren't
you?"
By this time they had reached a knot of people, Simes and Gens, clustered
around the bunk where Maddok Bron was recovering from transfer burn. As they
had plenty of fosebine, his headache was only a dull throb. Dan Whelan, Eph
Norton, Hank and Uel, Slina, and Cord Ashley were all deep in plans.
"...as a decoy," Slina was saying as Zeth and Owen came up. "Not one trooper
escaped today. When the others come back, the Simes here'll zlin 'em. We get
some folks in uniform up on the walls, and those Gens'll just ride right into
the trap, nice as you please!"
"But half the wall is down!" Cord Ashley protested. "It'll take days "
"Shen," Slina laughed, "bunch of my Simes are out hauling logs now. We'll
have that wall back by sunrise just has to look the same from the outside."
Replete with selyn from a guiltless kill that day, Slina was hypoconscious and
in a jolly mood. Now she looked up and saw Zeth. "Well," she said heartily,
"your plan sure worked!"
My plan?But just then Jana came up from the other side. "Please, Slina, speak
more softly. The wounded Gens must sleep."
"Sure thing, kid," said Slina in a whisper far more penetrating than her
speaking voice. "Well, Zeth, what next?"
Jana remained behind Slina, looking expectantly at Zeth, as did everyone
else. "Slina, you'll handle the legal problems. Maddok, I'm afraid the Simes
who killed today will be coming to you for comfort."
"I think I can manage that," Bron said evenly. "I will tell them what we are
fighting is no demon but you overcame killust today, Zeth. I was wrong. My
pride could have gotten me killed and made you a killer. I couldn't stop you.
You did it yourself. I've been thanking God for your strength since I woke
up."
He felt inside his shirt, searching for something.
"I just wish I understood what happened," said Zeth. "I didn't kill, but
others, even those who had never killed "
"Zeth," said Uel, "you zlinned just like Abel Veritt before he died."
Zeth remembered the feeling Abel had given them all. He had gone beyond the
kill. "But Abeldied. He couldn't accept selyn."
"You're a channel, Zeth," said Owen.
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"But Abelwasn't. Why should ?" Suddenly it all fell into place. "Owen I
remember now what Abel and I had in common. We were bothalmost killed! Marji
almost killed Abel at her changeover. And Dad almost killed me. You have to
die to be free of the kill!"
A weight lifted from his spirit. He barely heard Uel say, "Then I'll do it,
too," as Hank's nager flared real fear.
Jana said, "Do it to me, Zeth. I don't ever want to be tempted again."
"No," said Owen. "You're not a channel, Jana. I'm not allowing any
experiments on my sister!"
"That's right, Jana," said Bron. "Let the channels decide what's best." He
was holding his papers and tags. Putting the tags around his neck, like
Owen's, he said, "Zeth, only someone who is beyond the kill has the right to
make such decisions." He held out his papers to Zeth. "You're my channel now.
I choose you."
Dan Whelan and the others all looked at Zeth, echoing Bron's trust. It was
the same excruciating feeling he had known in the chapel at his father's
eulogy. But now it was bearable.
Abel had chosen him to hold the papers of the Gens of Fort Freedom, and he
had not been able to accept. Now, his hand closed firmly over Bron's papers.
"Abel once told me the truth of our predicament in Fort Freedom. Fear is our
real enemy, not the people it possesses.
"So many of our family have died fighting that fear. But so long as we can
live together, they didn't die in vain." He looked up at Owen, then around the
circle of familiar faces and back to Bron. "I'll do my part to see that Fort
Freedom continues, if you'll all do yours."
The wave of affirmation drove him duoconscious, and there were tears behind
his eyes as he added, "I can do it because I know now that Abel Veritt did not
die forsworn, nor was his faith in the future unjustified-" Zeth held the
papers aloft, accepting without reservation the triumphant knowledge: "Fort
Freedom lives forever!"
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